The inaugural Africa Investment Forum kicks off in Johannesburg

The Africa Investment Forum kicked off at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg under the theme, ‘Delivering as one for Africa’.

The forum is a first of its kind, attracting delegates from Asia, Europe and America in attendance looking at infrastructure investments in Africa.

Speaking to journalists, Premier of Gauteng, Hon David Makhura stated that, “The African investment institutions, particularly Developmental Financial Institutions (DFIs), are coming together with investors to unlock African capital. If we want Africa to move to the next level, we need to move away from aid to investment and African investors need to know themselves that Africa is the next biggest investment frontier of the 21st century. If you want to see that, look at the Chinese, they are all over Africa, look at the Europeans, they are all over Africa, look at the Americans, they are all over Africa, but we want Africans themselves to deploy the capital they have, we want co-ordination, proper synergy, proper scaling among-st the DFIs together with investors to look at the big impact on investment projects.”

Honourable Makhura went on to state that Gauteng was lucky as a province to have won the bid to host this important conference as it gave momentum to the whole investment drive that the president, H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa had started. Some of the investment projects in Gauteng include, public transport projects, ICT, mega human settlement and other social projects.

In his remarks, The Gauteng Premier stated that, “the difference between the Africa Investment Forum and other African Forums is that it is not just about talking but real transactions, real deals which are being finalised. At the end of this conference on Friday, we look forward to announcing how many real transactions and investment deals that will have been committed to by investors from all over the continent as well as investors from different parts of the world.”

Tinashe Mpasiri

The 1873 FM Continental Sunrise Breakfast Show presenter who attended the event Tinashe Mpasiri said,”We often associate holders of capital with capitalism and those who sell their labour with exploitation. Capital unlike land and minerals must itself be produced by human labour force before it can be a factor of production. How then can capital be produced if an investment is made in building subsistence existence where people eat what they produce? Capital cannot be brought into existence by propaganda or rhetoric but requires human effort. That effort is us as individuals being connected to one another, equipping each other through shared experiences, shared insights and trading ideas that inspire new thinking, new outcomes and new possibilities through platforms such as BOAF.”